Untitled
by Rogue 559
Summary: We're back in the present so you can all undo your seatbelts if you want...Complete.
1. chapter 1

This is just a one off Shalimar centric story. If however I get enough of a response I may think about doing a second chapter, but probably not...I like it the way it is.   
  
Please review...  
  
***  
  
She stepped down from the bus and her feet touched ground. The sky above was dense with clouds and she felt like she was chewing on the air around her it was so thick. She was sweating in her leather jacket but she couldn't take it off. Nor could she remove her high heeled black leather boots which were repressing the muscles of her legs and causing the soles of her feet to scream through their nerve endings.   
  
She walked through the foyer of the bus garage. An assortment of people were sitting in the hard plastic chairs, or standing reading the newspaper, or drinking coffee from styrofoam cups. Occasionally there would be a crackly announcement declaring that the next bus to LA would be leaving in 8 minutes. She walked straight through the air conditioned room and back out into the humid atmosphere.   
  
***  
  
'When's she getting in to the bus depot?'  
  
'In about 10 minutes, so you had better leave now if you're hoping to pick her up in time.'  
  
'The way Shal drives she'll make it in 20.'  
  
Shalimar swatted at Brennan's head before putting on her sunglasses. Adam smiled as he handed over the keys to the Lexus.  
  
'I'll be there in 5,' she yelled over her shoulder as she walked out of Sanctuary.  
  
The Lexus growled into life and Shalimar was soon cruising down the freeway. The wind blew through her hair and picked up errant strands which flew around her face. She brushed them away with her hand and settled back in the seat. There were no other cars on the road and she knew this was one not often frequented by the cops so she kicked the car up a notch. Her foot pushed down on the accelerator and, keeping one eye on the road she watched the speedometer moving up. This was the way life should be, exciting, exhilarating, intense. She relished the feeling of freedom.  
  
On the surface her life appeared to be full of liberation but once you dug a little deeper there were so many limitations, not least the ones she placed on herself. If she wasn't in Mutant X and hadn't been taught how to fully discipline herself by Adam she'd probably be more feral that she was.   
  
She noticed in the wing mirror a car coming up behind her. She gradually cut her speed, not wanting to get caught out and be even more late for the new mutant than she had to be.   
  
Adam had gotten a message over the secure website a couple of weeks before from a girl, desperate to leave her current situation. She had sounded scared and Adam had immediately made arrangements for her to come to their area of the country and be paced in the underground. Shalimar had talked with him about her and discovered that he remembered the girl from his days at Genomex. She had been one of the younger mutants, one of the one's he had worked with right before he had found out the full extent of Genomex's plans and left with the database. Of course Adam was still feeling guilty, Shalimar didn't think he'd ever get out of that state of mind. He was so caught up in what he had done to all the poor new mutants and much as they all, Brennan, Jesse, Emma and Shalimar tried to pull him out of it he wouldn't be dragged away from his mission. Shalimar figured that would be what killed him.   
  
She saw the car move to overtake her out of the corner of her eye and she slowed down to let it. Whoever the occupants were they were clearly in more of a rush than she was.   
  
***  
  
Shalimar smoothly killed the engine and pushed the door open. She had finally made it, only a minute and a half late. She smiled proudly to herself. She had beaten Brennan's record time. She made a mental note to tell him about that when she got back.   
  
She looked around her trying to find the girl she was supposed to pick up. Her eyes alighted on a brunette, standing not far from the open doors of the lobby. She was wearing all black and looked to be in some kind of discomfort, Shalimar assumed because of the outfit she was wearing.   
  
She looked up and saw the blonde woman walking towards her. She assumed she was Shalimar, the resident feral of Mutant X. She suddenly felt a lot safer. She trusted Adam completely. He had helped her get out of Genomex and out from under the radar of the GSA, he had done a lot for her. But she felt more secure knowing that there was someone watching her, looking out for her and not just via e-mail.   
  
***  
  
The car stuttered once again. Shalimar banged her hand on the steering wheel, hoping that the stumbling of the engine was not what she thought it was. There was plenty of gas in the car so it couldn't be that. But atleast that was something Shalimar knew how to fix. If it was a problem with the engine she really didn't have a clue.   
  
Suddenly they came to a stop. Silence filled the air and Shalimar leant her head back against her seat. She breathed out in a deep sigh and rolled her eyes.   
  
'Sorry about this,' she said as she shoved the car door open roughly. She walked to the front of the car and pulled the hood open. Smoke billowed into her face and she was forced to take a step away from the vehicle.   
  
She got out of the car and looked around her. There was nothing to either side of the road, just desert. The flat ground spread out for miles and blurred before her eyes as the heat from the sun pounded its surface. She could hear nothing but the sound of birds, high in the sky, ones which she couldn't see because of the suns glare. She scratched her head as she turned to look at Shalimar.   
  
'Jesse?' Shalimar called into her ring. She didn't want to have to leave the Lexus behind but she didn't like being out in the open for too long, it made her and the girl easy targets.   
  
'Yeah,' came Jesse's voice.  
  
'The car broke down.'  
  
'What?'  
  
'You heard me. Anyway, I need you to come pick us up in the Helix.' Shalimar turned away from the gaze of the girl and walked around the car. 'We're on the freeway and I don't want to be here for too long.'  
  
'I understand. We're on our way.'  
  
The link broken the two women were left in silence.   
  
***  
  
'We could hail a ride.'  
  
Shalimar looked in the direction indicated by the girl. A black car, still in the distance was driving towards them.   
  
'Mutant X is coming to pick us up, they'll be here any minute.' She leant back against the windscreen of the car and felt the sun beat down on her face. She forced her eyes shut until she could see bright spots dancing before her. This was the first time she had received a chance to relax in a long time and she fully intended to make the most of it.   
  
She watched as the car drew nearer along the road. To her it was just a blob of black on the otherwise earthy landscape but she was pretty sure Shalimar already knew the make and registration of the vehicle. She stood back against the Lexus to allow the other car to pass.   
  
***  
  
Shalimar looked up at the skid marks of the fleeing vehicle. It was going at such a high speed that clouds of dust were being drawn through it and out at the back. The world seemed to be glittering from the heat of the sun and the landscape was shimmering before her eyes. She lowered her head again to the body held in her strong arms. The blood spilled across the ground and formed puddles in the dirt. Shalimar didn't know what to do. Should she cry desperately, scream to the sky? She couldn't seem to feel anything inside her, let alone express it. She had never seen anyone killed, atleast not in such a violent manner. She felt her heart beating against the walls of her chest, it was like she could hear it beating in her ears so loudly that everything else was tuned out. The wind which had struck up was silently buffeting against her body but she couldn't feel it, couldn't hear it whistling through her ears. She couldn't feel anything.   
  
She leant her body against the wheel of the Lexus, feeling an incredible weakness overcoming her. The spots were still dancing in front of her but everytime she blinked they were shoved roughly out of the way by images of the girl falling to the floor, of bullets flying into her body and blood coming out the other side. Shalimar felt her chest compressing, she felt her breaths getting shallower and then there was nothing but the blackness, the dark which rapidly overwhelmed her body, shutting out everything but itself. 


	2. chapter 2

Due to popular demand (okay, four reviews) I've decided to add two more chapters to this fiction. This one is set before Shalimar and the girl meet and its from the girls point of view.   
  
Thanks for the really nice reviews and I hope this just explains things a little bit better. Please review again.   
  
***  
  
She looked up from the table she was wiping down as the five men entered the diner. They were all dressed in plain suits with black ties, regulation shoes and trenchcoats. She immediately lowered her head again, errant strands of hair falling in front of her face and wiped the table swiftly before turning and walking into the kitchen, out of view of the main restaurant area. She leaned against the tiled wall and tried to stabilize her breathing. She closed her eyes and felt her lungs slow down to a normal rate as did her heart.   
  
'Table five!'  
  
She jumped as the shout rang out. Table five was one of her tables and she instinctively pushed the swing doors open to go take the orders of the tables inhabitants. Her eyes widened as she saw the five men sitting in the chairs around the table. They noticed her standing in the doorway and signaled her over. She wanted to run, she wanted to hide, she wanted the floor to swallow her whole. She wished she could just fly away and never come back. She would never land, never give people the opportunity to screw her over or try and shut her away for all eternity in a little box or cage.   
  
One foot moved in front of the other as she made her way through the maze of diners. The men looked up as she stood at the end of the table closest to the door. She didn't know if they were there for her or someone else, or if they were simply taking a lunch break but years of being chased had made her paranoid and able to find the best escape point in any room.   
  
'What can I get you?' she asked, hoping that they hadn't noticed the stumble in her voice.   
  
'Three hamburgers, two cheeseburgers, fries to go with all of those and cokes all round.'  
  
She collected their menus from them and walked away as quickly as she could. She placed the slip of paper with their orders on the ledge between the restaurant and the kitchen and walked through the swing doors again. She looked at her hand in suprise as she realised that she was shaking, almost uncontrollably.   
  
'I'm gonna take my break now, okay?' she said as she yanked the greasy white apron over her head.  
  
'Yeah. See you back here in 15 minutes.'  
  
She shoved the back door open and walked out into the alley, relishing the fresh feeling of air brushing against her skin. She walked forward a couple of steps into the middle of the street and stood there, reveling in the freedom. Clearly the men hadn't been looking for her, or if they had they didn't know what she looked like. With a smile she lifted her hand to touch her hair. In all the excitement of the moment she had completely forgotten about her disguise. She touched the blonde hair that adorned her head, not hers but it looked pretty good anyway. She had purchased the wig when she had moved to Los Angeles in an effort to lose the GSA. It had worked thus far, but seeing the agents in her place of work had brought home the idea that she was in no way invincible just because she was wearing a costume. They were getting closer to finding her, the net around her was closing and she had to get away, move on. Time to leave yet again, just like always.   
  
But she now had no idea of where she was going to go. She had always prided herself on her independent nature, on her ability to look after herself. But this time she was going to have to ask for a little help. And she knew just the people.   
  
***  
  
She flicked the light switch and suddenly the bathroom was illuminated. She padded across to the sink with the mirror hanging above it and looked at the girl looking right back at her. Thick brown hair hung over each shoulder, huge blue eyes stared back at her and pouty lips opened to release a sigh that misted the mirror for a split second. She leant over the basin and removed the blue contact lenses, another aspect of her disguise. As she raised her head to look back into the mirror she saw the chocolate brown eyes she recognized so well.  
  
The sound of running water filled the small room and gradually the basin filled with the hot liquid. She splashed it onto her face and dried it gently. Now she could see the dark shadows underneath her eyes. She hadn't slept properly in weeks, too afraid to really rest even for a couple of hours. She lowered her shoulders and felt the muscles relaxing. It was painful, they had been tense for so long. She removed the various rings that adorned her fingers and placed them in a little bowl on the side of the basin. The clink rang loud in her ears.   
  
She turned off the light and walked back into the main room which made up her lounge, kitchen and bedroom. She hadn't bothered making the place look any good. She had always figured that she wouldn't be there long enough to appreciate it. Comfort wasn't an issue in the life of a fugitive.   
  
She lay down on the bed that was right next to the window just in case she needed to make a quick exit. She lay her head against the lumpy pillow and felt her eyes drifting closed, despite her best efforts at keeping them open. She was tired beyond the telling of it but couldn't bear to sleep for long. She knew that she would wake up at one, three and five at which point she would decide to give up on the whole sleeping thing as a lost cause.   
  
***  
  
The light shone on her face and slowly brought her into the world of the conscious. She blinked a couple of times before her eyes managed to adjust to the brightness. She looked across at her mobile and saw that it was 7:15. She frowned. She had slept in and hadn't woken up once during the night. Clearly the new beginning thing was keeping her more relaxed than usual. She had stupidly let her guard down and she quickly pushed the covers off her body. She felt the cold atmosphere assaulting her body but forced herself to get up regardless. She stumbled towards the bathroom, the usual early morning blurriness causing her to walk like someone who had moved back a couple of stages in the process of evolution.   
  
She turned the faucet and water instantly rushed out of the shower head. She stripped down to nothing and climbed into the bath feeling the boiling hot water falling onto her body. She leant her head back and pushed her hair out of her face so that it all streamed down her back en masse. The water splashed against her face and she gave herself up to it, wishing that all her problems could be gotten rid of quite as easily as the dirt being washed from her body.  
  
Eventually she got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body. She dried herself off and pulled some clothes on. She had until 3:50 that afternoon, when the Greyhound was leaving for Calgary. That journey would take 19 hours and she would then have to switch to the bus heading out of Calgary into Vancouver. That would take another 15 hours. She hated having to do the longer journey but there had been no buses going straight there and she didn't want to wait around in LA for longer than she had to. She would rather be on the move.   
  
She knelt on the hard wood floor and leant down, reaching her arm under her bed to drag out her backpack. She pulled it out and started shoving the few pieces of clothing she had into it. She swept all the treasures that she had with her into a separate pocket and zipped it shut. She looked around her and saw a room, any room belonging to anyone. There was nothing left to show that she had been there except a couple of strands of hair carrying her extraordinary DNA.   
  
She picked the keys up off the table and walked towards the front door that led out onto a badly lit hallway. She poked her head around the opening and seeing no evidence of people she walked out, pulling the door closed behind her. She heard the click and silently made her way down the hall, pausing to post the key through the door of the super. She carried on moving stealthily down the hallway and finally reached the stairs leading down to the hall below. She smiled at the sight of the dingy brown walls. Without meaning to she had come to see this place as home. She hated that people she didn't know anything about were forcing her to run from everything she held dear. Her original home had been left behind a long time ago as had countless apartments and deserted houses. She had never had the opportunity to settle down, had never had enough courage or time to make friends. She felt the anger welling up inside her like a fountain being switched on. She couldn't stand that her life sucked so much because of people who had realised what a mistake they had made and had decided that the best way to remedy this problem was to capture and kill the mistakes. That was their solution. It was barbaric and cruel and if she ever got a chance to get her own back she would kill them all, of that she was certain.   
  
***  
  
The hard plastic of the bus lobby dug into her back. She had been waiting a few minutes for her bus to be called. She was nervous and restless and desperately wanted to get moving, to be on her way. She could smell the coffee and sandwiches of the people around her. They were a complete mixture of students, business men, husbands and wives with their kids in tow presumably going on vacation or to visit family. She wished she could switch places with any person in the terminal. She would have loved to have been a student going to university. She would have majored in English if she had have had the opportunity. She would have loved to be an entrepreneur, running her own business. But most of all she would have loved that she could have found someone that she wanted to share her life with, someone she could have had a family with. She understood why she could never have that but she wasn't ashamed to admit that she was bitter about it.   
  
The announcement came over the loudspeakers and she lifted her bag off the floor and slung it over her shoulder. She walked out of the air conditioned lobby into the warm LA air, full of smog as per usual. She looked at the rows of buses until she found hers and walked purposefully towards it. She handed her ticket to the conductor and smiled as he handed it back to her. She climbed up the steps and found a seat by itself. She didn't want to have to make small talk with other passengers. She just wanted to put her headphones into her ears and drown out the outside world and all the crap it brought with it. 


	3. chapter 3

This is the last chapter of this story. This one's set after the events of the first chapter and its very much Shalimar with a little bit of Brennan. I hope you all enjoy it and please review. Warning though, it gets a little sentimental towards the end but someone has just died so I think I'm allowed to write the characters as being a little bit soppy.   
  
***  
  
She looked around her, her mind attempting to process everything that her eyes were seeing. Her vision blurred as the bright lights hit and were absorbed in by her eyes. She closed them shut and squeezed the lids till she saw spots dancing in front of the black. She re-opened her eyes and this time could make out distinct shapes. She felt the hardness of the medical bed against her back and squirmed to try and change her position to a more comfortable one.   
  
At the movement Brennan's eyes shot open. He sat up swiftly and stared at Shalimar's face. She hadn't yet noticed him and was looking around her with a frown marring her features. He sat up on the seat that he had been occupying for the past few hours, ever since Shalimar had been brought into Sanctuary by Jesse after the shooting. Jesse had found Shalimar sitting next to her car. She had been unconscious but shaking, the girls somewhat thin frame in her arms. Jesse had brought them both home in the Helix despite his obvious shock and anxiety.   
  
Brennan could still remember Jesse's voice as it came over the comlinks. He had sounded urgent, desperate and it had chilled Brennan's heart and sent tremors up and down his spine.   
  
When the Helix had landed Brennan had been the first one on. He had ran from the lab as soon as the warning came that the Helix had landed but as soon as Brennan saw Shalimar he had ground to a halt. Everything had stopped working; he couldn't breath, his vision was blurry and his legs refused point blank to support the weight of his body. He was ashamed to admit that it was mostly down to necessity that he had managed to pick Shalimar up in his arms and carry her inside to the lab. He hadn't been thinking about any of it, had switched to auto pilot.   
  
He couldn't even remember looking at the girl. He knew she was there, knew she had been carried in by Jesse, knew she was lying on the medical bed behind him but, either because of preoccupation with Shalimar or because of fear at seeing her he hadn't turned around, hadn't looked at her. He couldn't work himself up to do it.  
  
Shalimar looked at Brennan. His brown eyes were alert and she knew he was watching her closely. She stared into the brown pools, the ones which were so familiar to her, so comforting. Ever since he had joined Mutant X and she had properly looked into his eyes, she had trusted him. She knew that when something was wrong the one place to look to find out what his mood was, were his eyes. Whoever said they were the windows to the soul weren't far off. Shalimar had never claimed to have Emma like skill in that area but once she knew someone, she knew them. No turning back. And with Brennan she hadn't wanted to.   
  
Something beyond Brennan drew her attention and her eyes darted away from his gaze. She saw the girl lying on the bed, her cheeks pale, her lips tinged with blue. She looked like she was made of paper, so fragile, so delicate. Shalimar couldn't quite believe this was the same person. Outside of the bus station she had looked scared, worried but she had a confident air about her, the kind of attitude that only mutants could possibly have. She knew that under most circumstances she could look after herself. Shalimar recognized that in herself except over the years that confidence had grown. Shalimar had beaten the crap out of quite a few people and she believed whole heartedly in her own ability to take down pretty much anyone. She didn't think she was being cocky, just honest.   
  
Her breath caught in her throat as her eyes watched the girl. There was no movement. Her eyes didn't flicker open, her chest didn't move up and down, slowly and rhythmically. Shalimar's chin wobbled even as she told herself to stop being such a wuss. She had no right to cry. She had been there with the girl on the freeway. She should have seen the car, she should have looked more closely, she should have told the girl to move out of the way. But instead she had pushed her sunglasses back onto her eyes, she had told the girl not to worry because they would be picked up soon by the good guys.   
  
Brennan watched as Shalimar's eyes filled with tears. They pooled up on her lower lids, threatening to over spill and make clear rivulets down her cheeks. Brennan moved his hand to touch hers. He felt her warm, smooth skin beneath his fingers and grasped it. He watched as the tears collected before, without warning over flowing. They shot down Shalimar's face and dripped off her chin and as they did Brennan pulled her into a tight embrace. It was for her, and him. She needed the comfort, needed to know that there were people who not only didn't blame her but loved her, and he needed to not see her cry. He couldn't bear that, never had been able to stand seeing her sob her heart out.   
  
Shalimar felt Brennan's arms around her shoulders and she collapsed against his chest. Sobs racked her body and tears spilled from her eyes onto his t-shirt. They formed a relatively large wet patch on the material but neither Shalimar nor Brennan cared.   
  
***  
  
The halls of Sanctuary echoed with the sound of the sliding door and Shalimar looked around her to see if anyone else had heard the noise which was still resonating in her ears. She stepped out into the dim light and made her way silently down the hall.  
  
She couldn't sleep. That wasn't strictly true. She didn't want to go to sleep. Everytime she closed her eyes she could see flashes of the day; the girl standing outside the bus depot in her big black boots; her standing next to the car looking out on the landscape, barren as it was; her body impacting from the bullets and the force at which they entered and exited. Shalimar couldn't get any of it out of her mind.   
  
Everyone had been so nice to her that night after she had woken up. They had given her some food she couldn't eat, had given her some water that she couldn't drink and had practically forced her to get some sleep that she couldn't face. They had kept on telling her that it wasn't her fault but she wouldn't accept it. There was no doubt in her mind that if she had paid more attention none of this would have happened.   
  
She wasn't quite sure where her feet were taking her but she knew that as long as she kept moving she wasn't going to sleep. She had to stay awake, there was no question about it. If she slept she would relive all the nightmares. She frowned as she realised that maybe that was what she was supposed to do, relive everything that had happened. She didn't deserve to get off scot free, she was the one who had caused the girl to die and she really didn't think she was supposed to just get away with that. She wasn't supposed to end up with the good friends who kept on telling her it wasn't her fault, she didn't deserve to live while the innocent girl died. She didn't deserve anything that remotely seemed like happiness, ever.   
  
She pushed open the door of the lab and looked around her in suprise. She was unsure as to why she had come to be there. The lab was the one place she really didn't want to be. Adam had turned the heating down in the room because of the body. They weren't entirely sure what to do with it, whether to try and get in touch with the girls parents or to organize the burial themselves. Adam wasn't even sure how to get in touch with her family, he didn't even know if she had any and considering that she had felt the need to turn to Mutant X Adam wasn't sure if she would have wanted to be buried by her family anyway. There were probably countless reasons why she felt she couldn't in any way rely on them.   
  
Shalimar's eyes were dragged towards the sheet which covered the still body of the girl. She found herself drawn to it. Maybe it was some kind of morbid thing that she felt she had to do or maybe it was because she wanted to make sure that it wasn't some big huge mistake and the girl wasn't really dead, she was just asleep.   
  
Shalimar knew the answer before she pulled the material back from the girls head. Her eyes were closed and her face was a deathly shade of grey. She looked almost like stone but for the eyelashes and the blue tint around her lips. Shalimar had never seen a dead body. She had seen people killed before, it was kind of in her line of work but she had never seen someone killed right before her eyes while she stood mere feet away and could do nothing to help. Mutant X had always made every attempt to steer away from guns and weapons. They were powerful enough to not need any, but that wasn't really the point. Guns were too harsh. Shalimar could kick a guy in the head and knock him unconscious but guns were so final. The trigger was pulled and then that was it, there was no stopping the bullet from exiting the barrel.   
  
She frowned as she realised that she didn't even know the girls name. Adam hadn't told her before she went to pick her up from the depot and she had forgotten to ask when she met her. She turned and walked quickly to the computers. Her fingers typed swiftly and within seconds she had drawn up the file of the girl. She looked at the picture of her and then scanned to look at her details.   
  
A few minutes passed and Shalimar stood up from the chair she had sat down on. She walked slowly back towards the bed where the girl lay. She reached out her hand and her finger brushed against the girls cheek. She was cold, something Shalimar hadn't been entirely prepared for.   
  
She knew that coma victims could sometimes hear people talking to them, they could recognize familiar voices. Shalimar held no hope with the idea that the same happened for dead people but she hoped that the girl could hear her wherever it was that she had gone.   
  
'Hi,' she said quietly, her voice unfamiliar to her as she hadn't used it in some time.   
  
'I'm sorry you had to go like that,' she continued. 'It must have been painful. I've been shot a couple of times and its hurt like nothing else can. But there were a hell of a lot of bullets so I hope you didn't feel very much for very long.' After a pause Shalimar carried on. 'I should have done more. I should have looked at the car more closely, I should have seen something, I should have jumped in front of you to stop the bullets hitting you at all. I should have fought for you. But I didn't and you paid the price. So if you really want to come back to haunt me I wouldn't blame you.' Shalimar brushed the hair back from her face and readied herself to carry on. 'You were too good for the world, trust me, you're better off out of it.'  
  
Shalimar glanced around her and saw the girls bag. It wasn't very big but when you were living on your own in fear of being caught by a group of psychopaths a lot of stuff wasn't really your main priority. She picked it up and found the girls CD player. She opened it up and saw the CD inside. Her mouth twisted into a smile. The girl had taste.   
  
Shalimar nodded to herself slowly as she placed the headphones in the girls ears. She hit play and could hear the tinny sound of the music playing itself out. She pulled up a chair and sat down to watch.   
  
'You were too good for the world Amy.' 


End file.
